The Housing Department (HD) has won three awards in the Civil Service Outstanding Service Award Scheme 2013 organised by the Civil Service Bureau. Led by the Director of Housing Mr D W Pescod, the HD’s winning teams proudly received the honours at the Award Presentation Ceremony held on 6 September.

The HD has jointly won the Silver Prize in the category of Inter-departmental Partnership Award with the Labour and Welfare Bureau, the Architectural Services Department, the Highways Department and the Transport Department for improving accessibility of government premises. In response to the “Formal Investigation Report on Accessibility in Publicly Accessible Premises” released by the Equal Opportunities Commission on 7 June 2010, a task force led by the Labour and Welfare Bureau has been set up to coordinate and formulate action plans among relevant stakeholders within the Government; in a bid to improve accessibility in majority of government premises by June 2012. The task force has proactively communicated and coordinated with related stakeholders to address genuine needs of end users, and provided adequate training, promotion and education to boost staff and public awareness. With the joint efforts of all the partnering bureau and departments, the improvement works were completed on time and well received by the public at large, particularly persons with disabilities and the elderly.

In addition, the HD’s “Nam Shan Carpark Conversion” and “Customer Service Management System” project teams were awarded respectively the Bronze Prize in the category of General Public Service Team Award and a Meritorious Award in the category of Internal Service Team Award. The former promoted better utilisation of existing land resources by converting the vacant parking spaces to an education centre; while the latter succeeded in enhancing customer service of the public rental housing estates.

Following the award of “Carbon Care Label” for Block 3 of the Housing Authority (HA) Headquarters a few months ago, the HA recently obtained the certification of ISO 50001 Energy Management System (EnMS) issued by the Hong Kong Quality Assurance Agency (HKQAA) for Kwai Shing West Estate. The awarded estate was the first residential estate and the first public rental housing (PRH) estate in Hong Kong granted with the certificate.

Since early January 2013, the ISO 50001 EnMS has been fully implemented across all the 10 domestic blocks of Kwai Shing West Estate, in full compliance with the requirements on the surveillance of energy consumption and energy saving measures. The HA is preparing to implement ISO 50001 certification for all PRH estates in the coming two years, with the aims of raising the energy consumption efficiency in all the public facilities of PRH estates and also supporting energy saving and carbon reduction in Hong Kong.

ISO 50001 EnMS is an internationally recognised standard for establishing an effective energy management system. The merits of certification include: reducing energy consumption and waste of natural resources; operating existing plants and machinery in an energy effective mode; improving the transparency and communication aspects of energy management; prioritising the assessment on effectiveness of new energy saving measures and their orders of implementation; and enabling energy efficiency in the whole supply chain.

The Housing Department (HD) has recently received three awards in the Civil Service Outstanding Service Award Scheme 2013, organised by the Civil Service Bureau. Housing Dimensions interviewed the silver prize-winning project team, who shared how they helped create a barrier-free community for residents of public housing estates. Representatives from the team included Chief Maintenance Surveyor Allan Wong, Senior Maintenance Surveyor Danny Cheng, Senior Building Services Engineer Dick Chan, and Maintenance Surveyors Lillian Lai, Matthew Chan and Esther Szeto.

The Housing Authority (HA) has been applying the “Universal Design” principle to public housing development design since 2002, a design principle which works well for residents of all ages and with different physical conditions. In response to the Investigation Report released by Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) in June 2010, the HA embarked on a retrofitting programme to improve barrier-free access facilities in HA properties and facilities by mid 2012, to help people with disabilities (PWD) integrate better into the community, and also to better serve the elderly, pregnant women, people suffering physical weakness, and those with small children. Major works include improving lift cars to comply with the accessibility requirements; adding tactile warning strips on staircases; as well as installing handrails of required dimensions and shapes, appropriate channel covers and gratings, etc.

A steering team was established to implement the barrier-free access improvement works systematically. The team was asked to monitor the progress of work, prepare and submit quarterly reports to the Legislative Council, and liaise and cooperate with related government departments such as the Labour and Welfare Bureau, the Architectural Services Department, the Highways Department and the Transport Department, making sure that the works progressed smoothly. Team member Esther Szeto, a Maintenance Surveyor, introduced the scheme. “The HA’s improvement project scheme started at the end of 2010. It covered 237 premises or facilities such as residential buildings and public areas, transportation nodes, bus terminus, shopping centres, carparks and factory buildings, with a total of 365 projects. Most of the works had to be completed by June 2012, with just a few being completed later to match with the schedules of the Lift Addition Programme and Estate Improvement Programme.”

When asked how the HA prepared for the works at the beginning, Esther elaborated, “Since different premises and estates were completed in different years, the project teams had to help assess the scope and scale of the improvement works required for each premises. We adopted a people-oriented approach in the design of barrier-free facilities, consulting the Rehabilitation Advisory Committee, The Hong Kong Council of Social Service and other PWD organisations, to ensure the facilities serve their needs.”

Senior Maintenance Surveyor Danny Cheng added, “Adequate consultation before beginning work is vital, as it helps avoid remedial works, resulting in reducing construction waste and protecting the environment. We collected a lot of useful information by cooperating with PWD organisations, and learned more about their actual needs at various sharing meetings. For example, we discovered that contrasting colours can be a big help in differentiating objects. We share this kind of information with colleagues responsible for the design of new estates for their consideration.”

Maintenance Surveyor Matthew Chan elaborated on the special arrangements made at the actual implementation stage, “The HA and the EOC jointly organised a number of discussion forums and workshops about the barrier-free environment, where PWD were invited to share their views. All these strengthened our internal communications and training.” Maintenance Surveyor Lillian Lai added, “We also organised site visits, seminars and experience sharing meetings, collecting opinions and coordinating the needs of departments, PWD and the general public.” Senior Building Services Engineer Dick Chan said, “Other than improvement works inside lift cars, the works we did on building services included installing audio-visual alarm systems in public areas like parking spaces and bus terminals, and enhancing emergency alarm systems in toilets. The improvement work in lift cars was more complex, as we needed to stop the lift cars temporarily. To minimise the inconvenience caused to residents, our arrangements required careful negotiations.”

Chief Maintenance Surveyor Allan Wong shared some of the difficulties encountered. “We faced different kinds of challenges at the implementation stage. For example, meetings with other departments and organisations were held to discuss matters relating to the linking areas among bus terminals, entrances and exits of shopping centres, etc. Since different organisations have different working schedules and expectations, we had to be ready to compromise to make sure the areas between buildings and roads connected with public transportation facilities are provided with barrier-free access and facilities.” He continued, “We established an open and transparent monitoring mechanism, under which quarterly reports were sent to related organisations and uploaded to the Labour and Welfare Bureau website for public viewing. We also collect examples and case studies for future internal reference.”

Allan concluded, “We are delighted that the barrier-free access improvement project was completed on schedule. That success was the result of concerted efforts by colleagues and our strong team spirit. The practical benefit that the project has brought to residents makes us happy. We have received commendation from a PWD organisation, and are also pleased to see that other organisations like The Link REIT, MTR Hong Kong and the Hospital Authority consider our improvement works as a model. Earlier this year, the Macau SAR Rehabilitation Services Trans-departmental Team visited the Labour and Welfare Bureau and the HD. We exchanged information on barrier-free access improvement works in Hong Kong and Macau.” In 2012, the HA’s Yau Lai Shopping Centre was honoured with the Grand Award in the “Hong Kong Barrier-free Shopping Malls Appreciation Award”, organised by Hong Kong Rehabilitation Power. The HA’s efforts in building a barrier-free community for residents have been very worthwhile.